


A Golden Heart-An Undertale Story

by Airbag21



Category: Undertale
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/M, Post-Undertale Pacifist Route, Souls
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-09-15
Updated: 2018-10-29
Packaged: 2019-07-12 13:41:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 6
Words: 15,053
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15996371
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Airbag21/pseuds/Airbag21
Summary: Throughout history, there have only always been 8 SOULS, DETERMINATION, BRAVERY, JUSTICE, KINDNESS, INTEGRITY, PATIENCE, PERSEVERANCE and MONSTER. But, almost 5 years after the Second War ended, Frisk has noticed something...strange. They can't SAVE. Then, after the death of a classmate, the Third War starts and Frisk is sure they're connected.





	1. Prologue-A Small Problem

The air was like needles stinging themselves into every object. Bullets of water fell down as huge sheets, not caring if they hurt anyone or anything. On days like this, a person with common sense would be sheltered and feel the warmth of being inside. Everyone was like that. Everyone, except a small child in a striped shirt. They were in immense pain and when they looked down to see what the cause of this pain was; they found they had a bust lip, a broken arm and a sprain ankle. Every day, the child was tormented for being a “furry” and “being family with a cow”. This child had come back from the dead, yet not even fighting a king could compare to this. At least the king’s attacks were repetitive, unlike these. Humans are more monster than monster. They hurt without reason, without cause or provocation. The child was distraught, but they knew they still had one chance. They didn’t want to take it, but they craved their own safety and well-being. That child’s name is Frisk.

“Ah, a SAVE point. I needed one of these...but...no, I have to use it, just this once,” Frisk bolted over to the SAVE as quickly as their legs would carry them, despite that filling their entire body with indescribable pain. They hadn’t used one since they found their way back to the surface and didn’t want to but this was a special case. They felt every fibre in their body urging them to go back, but to no avail. With all of the strength they could muster, Frisk’s hand brushed the SAVE point and...  
“File not found” Frisk was confused but it didn’t stop them from trying again. The child’s fingers touched the SAVE again...and again the same “File not found” was seen. They couldn’t believe what they were saying. Was this just a glitch? Was Flowey able to SAVE now, thus making Frisk unable to? No, that would be illogical and unreasonable. Yet something must have happened to cause this. Whether it is paranormal, unusual or whatever, Frisk must solve this the only way they knew how. They needed to be filled with DETERMINATION. As they painfully reached down to their cell phone, the child heard a noise that was all so familiar to them. The electronic beep of the SAVE point. No-one’s here, though... thought Frisk. They rapidly dialled Papyrus’ number and heard his regular, good-natured “HELLO, HUMAN. YOU CALLED THE GREAT PAPYRUS AND SO THE GREAT PAPYRUS SHALL ANSWER. WHAT IS IT THAT YOU REQUIRE?”

“Get Sans...need help...” and with that, Frisk was overwhelmed with pain and promptly fainted.


	2. Just Ask...

“My child, please wake up. You will be alright,”

Toriel’s familiar voice rang out in Frisk’s dark mind, sending some sort of and painful jolt through their head. They were confused at first; the last thing that they remembered is trying to SAVE, but soon the memories came flooding back. Wait! They couldn’t SAVE! That wasn’t right; they could usually. They would worry about that later; for now, where were they? They didn’t feel the damp grass under their fingers, but instead a warm, soft...bed? The pungent taste of iron still filled Frisk’s mouth, but they felt like they were no longer in danger and somehow everything would be okay.

“HUMAN. WAKE UP.” Suddenly, without warning, Frisk’s eyes opened instinctively and they sat bolt upright. This action had consequences, though, and their arm was hit by their body, causing them to flinch and lie down again. Once they had settled, their eyes adjusted to the harsh light and they blinked to see 3 shapes standing over them, all a disparity of heights. Blood tainted their sight so they couldn’t make out who they were, but judging by their silhouettes they were Sans, Toriel and Papyrus, three names that were all so familiar to the tiny child.

“hey, kid. you gave us a real scare there,” 

“Sans? I have to talk to you,” Frisk attempted to get up again, but this just caused the pain again. 

“Do not get up, my child. I will heal you,” and one hand wave later, Frisk was able to sit up and became alert. They were back home, in their room. They could still feel sticky blood on their school uniform. The usually clean purple uniform was now stained red with blood and when they reached down to their chest and found that their tie was missing. Everything else seemed to be in place, though.

“Frisk, you will not be going to school today, and neither will I,” Toriel seemed to be trying to keep Frisk as safe as possible.

“No, Mom. Go to work. I’ll be fine,” Frisk protested.

“yeah, tori, the kid’s right. me and paps will stay with them,”

“Well, alright. Don’t get into too much trouble, you three,” and with that, Toriel left the house and drove to work. Now, with just Frisk, Sans and Papyrus left in the house, Frisk could finally talk about their problems.

“Papyrus, can you go make breakfast, please?” Frisk wasn’t actually hungry; they just needed to be alone with Sans.

“OKAY, HUMAN. THE GREAT PAPYRUS WILL COOK YOU THE GREATEST BREAKFAST YOU HAVE EVER TASTED!” So Papyrus left to “cook the greatest breakfast they had ever tasted” and now there was just Frisk and Sans in the room, Frisk started to spout everything that had happened.

“So I was walking home after school and then I was chased by these four boys and then they started to beat me up so I ran away, but they had broken my arm and made my lip bleed and in my panic I tripped over a tree root and sprained my ankle, so I tried to find a SAVE point and I did but for some reason I couldn’t SAVE, so I called Papyrus to get you, and then I think I must have fainted and now I’m back here.”

“woah, kid, slow down. so you were being chased and now you can’t save, right?” Sans asked, trying to process what Frisk had just blurted out at him. Frisk wasn’t serious, right? Not saving would be a problem that they couldn’t avoid so if they were being serious, there would be trouble. Perhaps in their blood-stained panic, Frisk merely imagined that they couldn’t SAVE. If that was true, though, why would they need Toriel to heal them? No...Frisk wasn’t lying. They were being serious, dead serious. 

“well, the only way for you not to save is if someone with another determination soul saved, but only one soul could exist at one time.” Sans replied.

“Yeah, I get that. It’s like how Flowey couldn’t SAVE when I came along. Speaking of...” Frisk looked out of the window to the flowerbed, still wet from the other day’s rain and seemed like it was going to become flooded from the overcast sky. “Flowey!” Frisk called, and suddenly the ground shifted and two seconds later, a small golden flower appeared.

“What?” Usually a talking flower would make most people faint, but Frisk was standing next to a skeleton with a goat as their adopted mother, so this was normal for them. So, they reached out of the window, grabbed a spade and picked the flower up to put it into an empty flowerpot.

“Hey, weed,” Sans said clearly showing some distaste for this small flower.

“Howdy, Trash bag,” replied Flowey, who was used to being hated. He couldn’t hide his confusion of why he was there, though. Frisk wouldn’t call them unless something was wrong. Even if something was wrong, how could he help? He didn’t even have arms! “So what do you want, Frisk?” He asked.

 Frisk answered Flowey’s question with a question. “I can’t SAVE, can you?”

“No,”

“Then who can?”

“Wait, hang on, you can’t SAVE?!” Flowey exclaimed. He was taken aback by the situation.

“Yeah, I was running from these idiots who tried to basically kill me (but all they did was break my arm and damaged a few other things. I’ve been in worse situations) and then when I reached a SAVE point, it was just like “file not found” but then I heard the weird electronic beep that you can here when you SAVE, but when I looked up no-one was around and then I fainted and woke up here and then Mom just went to work and Papyrus is in the kitchen so I asked Sans for help but he didn’t know so I called you to get help,”

Flowey opened his mouth to say something, but at that exact moment, Frisk received a text. It read:

**Nath_Skies: Frisk, where r u?**

**Frisk: Home**

**Nath_Skies: Y?**

**Frisk: JW injured me, so Mom told me to stay home**

**Nath_Skies: Hang on, she’s looking at me, should put phone away.**

**Nath_Skies: Hello, my child**

**Frisk: MOM!**

Frisk put their phone away to focus their attention on the two monsters in front of them, who were now both locked in a death stare.

Meanwhile, in a dusty classroom, a class of generally bored students were either looked out the window or tapping. Nathan Skies was one of those tappers, as he hated the subject. He couldn’t believe that this phone was taken away. How did his siblings survive years of this? He put his head on the table and heard a “Dude, you okay?” The voice was familiar to him.

“Go away, Monty,” was the muffled reply. Nathan appreciated their concern, but he didn’t need it.

“Get up...” said a stone cold voice.

“You too, Kate,” she may have been a sarcastic sounding, narcissistic, ice hearted girl, but Nathan could still here the intention and warmth in her tone. He was the only who could. She had a point, though. Nathan’s tie had started making a warm stripe down his face. The April sun streamed through the windows, despite the overcast sky, causing the room to overheat like an oven and made it hard to even focus. There was only one student who was paying any attention to what was being said, but no-one cared about him.

“How are you not a pink puddle yet?” Nathan asked rhetorically.

“I have no pigment in my skin,” replied Kate, clearly not understanding the fact the question was rhetorical. She wasn’t usually the type to understand sarcasm, or emotions for that matter. Nathan decided not to comment on the matter, but instead just turned his head back down and wondering what Frisk was doing at that moment.

 

Back in their room, Frisk was pacing up and down, trying to figure out what had happening to make it so they couldn’t SAVE. It’s true that they didn’t try to do it after they had reached the surface so maybe that was the cause? If that was the case then the SAVE point wouldn’t have even appeared.

“I still don’t get it,” they finally said, after a few minutes. Even if they paced for a year, they would never reach the answer that actually came. “I can’t think like this, I need to go outside, so can you two leave so I can change?” Sans did what they requested, but Flowey didn’t.

“I can’t move, remember.”

“Okay, just don’t look,” Frisk took their blazer off and hung it on the end of their bed. The bloody ends of it made the bed filthy and when they took their shirt off, the stain of blood became bigger. Flowey looked at Frisk’s back, which was covered in noticeable scars.

“Hey Frisk, what happen to your back?” he asked.

“Well, it’s not like someone killed me multiple times or anything,” Frisk replied, a slight bit of bitterness in their voice. Flowey looked down and didn’t reply; he knew exactly who killed them many times.

“Ditto,” he whispered. He felt like it wasn’t fair that he was the one being called out; Frisk had killed him  almost as many times as he killed them. He just tried to help them, but what did he get for his cooperation? A knife to the stem.  He glued his eyes shut as Frisk slowly got ready to go outside.

“Done,” Flowey opened his eyes to see that Frisk had changed so that they weren’t in bloody clothes.  There was an awkward silence in the room until Flowey cleared his throat and said:

“So, are you going outside?”

“Yes, okay, outside,” So they walked through the door, past Papyrus (who was still making breakfast, despite the fact it had been half an hour since he started) and outside.

They were immediately hit by a wave of rain, making them soaked.

“I really should have looked out the window before coming out,”

In the classroom, the lesson was almost at end. Everyone was packing up, the bell had went and the class could finally relax until the next lesson, but then a singular hand went up to ask a question.

“Yes, my child?” Toriel responded to the hand.

“Ms Dreemurr, what about the homework?” asked Benjamin Morpeton, the boy that no-one cared about. Everybody except Kate, who didn’t care, looked had him like he was mad. He had asked the question that was forbidden in the classroom, and many people looked like they wanted to murder him. Luckily for them, Toriel glanced over the question and let the class free of the suffocating room.

“So that was boring, wasn’t it?” Monster Kid’s reaction summed up everyone’s experience with that lesson.

“You’re telling me,” Nathan felt like he never wanted to do that again.

“Yeah, sure, whatever...”

“Kate Wright, I will never understand your brain.” He felt a small tingle of de ja vu; he had done this the day before that one. “Hang on; I’m going to text Frisk,”

“Dude, your phone was confiscated,” A jolt of realization went through his brain as he heard Monster Kid’s words.

“Thanks Monty, can I use yours?”

“Sure, here you go,” As they flipped their phone out of their bag, Nathan muttered “I don’t get you use this; you don’t even have arms,”

**Monster Kid: Hey, Frisk. It’s me, Nathan, I am using Monty’s phone to text you. Where r u?**

**Frisk: Look up.**

“Hey, Nathan,” Nathan was startled by the sudden noise of Frisk’s voice. He stepped back and tripped over his own foot and landed flat on his back.

“You okay, dude?” Monster Kid asked, clearly knowing what it was like to fall over; the amount of times they had done it.

“Yeah, I’m okay,” Nathan rubbed the back his head as he stood up, not finding anything out of place. Kate helped him up, but she didn’t say anything. “How are you even here? Your Mom told you to stay home,” Nathan asked.

“I needed to think, so I went outside but then it was raining so to avoid Papyrus’ indescribable cooking, I came. I’m obviously not going to go to classes, but I came just to sort of be around,”

“Why did you need to think?”

“Well I-“

“My child!”

“I’ll tell you later,” Frisk turned around to face Toriel standing over them, fire in hand. “Hey, Mom,” Frisk said a nervous voice. Even though they knew that she would never use her fire magic on them, they still felt cautious about it.  They backed up slightly and accidentally bumped into Kate.

“Ow.”She said, without emotion “You two need to stop backing up,”

“Sorry, Kate. Mom, you wouldn’t use that on me,” Toriel unlit her hand and dropped her arm down.

“You are right, my child, but that doesn’t mean you won’t be punished. You will-” Suddenly a blur went past and a short girl came huffing and puffing. She stopped to take a breath when she reached the lockers.

“Hi, Ms Dreemurr,” she said, breathlessly “Just trying to catch my brother. He stole a box of calculators...again. Speaking of brothers, what did this one do?” She pointed at Nathan and decided it was too much effort and put it down almost immediately.

“Ah, dear sister, you are incorrect. It is not I that betrayed the Noble House of Skies, but my companion, Frisk here, who has spoiled the woven history of Dreemurr,” Nathan replied, in a mock posh voice.

“Do not forget that I have taken your cell phone,” Toriel jutted in. “You shall have detention tonight and will probably be there with your brother,”

As though on cue, there was a whistled in the distance and a “NO RUNNING IN THE CORRIDORS!” and a seventeen year old boy sulking towards them with a box in hands.

“Aha, there you are. Micah, detention for stealing a box of calculators and running in school,” the girl said, triumphantly.

“Scarlet, you have no authority over me,”

“Yes I do, I’m a Prefect,” she pointed to the huge letter P covering most of the left side of her chest,”

Micah struggled for something to say and simply resorted to “Well....I’m older,”

“By 3 minutes, besides, we’re not 5 anymore,” Micah grumbled something about abusing power and then froze when he saw Toriel.

“H-hey, Ms D. How are today. Can I just say you are looking particularly beautiful this fine morning?” The monster arched her eyebrow and Scarlet handed both of her brothers slips for detention for later in the afternoon. Micah realized that his brother was with them and nudged his head up.

“My perfect little brother has got a detention. This is madness!” he exclaimed sarcastically.

“Shut up, Micah,” came the reply.

Now looking at the Skies children, you would definitely be able to tell they were related. They all had large, round eyes and an air of aggression around them. Not so much that it’s dangerous, but just enough to tell that it’s there. Their eyes had two things they were saying and it was either “Hey I like you, we should talk and hang out,” or “You dare take one step closer to me and I will slice your throat open,” and there was no in-between. Nathan and Micah were the most similar is physique, as they were both athletic and spent most of the time outside. Scarlet, well, let’s just say she wasn’t the best at sport. She spent most of her time watching movies or reading. But what she lacked in physical abilities, she made up for in mental. Labelled as one of the brightest girls in her year, she was an aspiring journalist and would write movie critiques in the school newspaper and other reports. In the previous year, she was chosen to be Prefect and couldn’t be prouder. She always wore the light blue badge where ever she went. Nathan and Micah were both talented soccer players and would train twice a week. Nathan also walked his dog, Harriet, twice a day and would spend hours playing and obsessing over her.

Kate, on the other hand was the complete opposite. She had light skin and small, narrow eyes, which were pale pink in colour. The only things that punctured the white in her face were large bags under her eyes and cheeks marked with acne. Her personality was similar to Frisk’s when they were in the underground. She preferred to tie her blazer around her waist and her hair fell loosely around her shoulders. Her face was in constant “I don’t care” state and that was exactly how she felt all the time. Her skirt just skimmed the top of her knees, which technically was breaking the rules, due to the fact they say “Middle of the knees” but no-one really cared. Her not caring attitude has landed her in a lot of trouble because of lack of effort. Her detention count was nothing compared to Nathan’s. Over the last year of school, he has ended up in detention for an entire novels worth of reasons and there was still a few months left until 9th grade.

Suddenly, the bell rang for 2nd period.  Toriel turned to Frisk and said “During lunchtime, I will ask Sans to bring you lunch and your uniform. You shall get changed then, but for now, you can continue your schoolwork in your regular clothes,” 

“Thanks mom. Right, I’m off to History, where you guys going?” Frisk said as Toriel walked off.

“Gym,” replied Kate.

“Geography,” said Monster Kid

“Spanish,” Nathan said

“You’re already fluent in Spanish,”

“Well gotta be good at something,” and with that, they all spilt off into different directions.

On the way to class, Frisk saw the people who practically tried to murder them. Their leader, Jakob, punched Frisk on their way past, but they didn’t react. “Why don’t you open your eyes?” He said. Again, Frisk didn’t react.

Frisk was the last person in the class. As soon as they sat down, the lesson started. “Right then class, today we will be doing the history of Human-Monster relations,” said Mr Drowly, the teacher “As I’m sure you’re aware of, it has been almost been 5 years since Frisk here,” he motioned to their desk “saved the monsters from living underground, but do any of you know why the monsters were there in the first place?” A singular hand went up. “Terri?”

“Well, sir, there was a war, wasn’t there?” she said. Terri would ask a question as a reply, as though to never sound wrong.   

“That is right,” continued the teacher. “But before the war, humans and monsters lived in peace. Humans discovered that monsters could absorb human’s ‘SOULS’ and then, in fear, they went to war and the humans won, so 7  magical humans created the barrier and trapped the monsters deep beneath Mount Ebbot. Now who here knows what a SOUL is?”

Terri put her hand up again and said “A SOUL is like a personal trait and there are 7 different colours, like a rainbow, right?”

“Right you are. These human SOULS are extremely powerful and are: Determination, Bravery, Justice, Kindness, Integrity, Patience and Perseverance, Determination being the most powerful. If a monster absorbed any one of these, they would immediately become more powerful. Now look at the questions on the board and the answers are all in what I just said. You have 10 minutes to answer all of them. Begin,”

The sound of pen scratching and tapping filled the air. Frisk looked down at the first question. It read: _What caused the Great War?_ Frisk sighed and answered the question without hesitation. They finished them within 5 minutes and looked around the room. This was an all human class and Frisk never really talked to anyone in it. They wondered what SOULS everyone had. There was a 1/6 chance any of them could have one particular SOUL. Frisk touched their own chest. They were used to seeing their SOUL, but no-one else in the room had; they hadn’t needed to. They hadn’t had to suffer through days without light, with only a stick and a bandage to defend themselves. They weren’t forced to kill everyone...Frisk stopped themselves. _They_ weren’t forced to kill anyone; even Chara avoided killing their own brother. Chara. Ever since Frisk had left the underground, they hadn’t seen their face. What once was ‘the demon that came when you called its name’ turned into something that just wasn’t there. Not going to lie, Frisk missed them. They liked having someone to talk to, someone there to comfort. At least the human didn’t have anyone possessing them, which is always a plus. As soon as Frisk completed a pacifist route for the last time, they started work on negotiating the humans and monsters to live together. After a month, their mom got a job at the local school, a week after that, Frisk enrolled in the school. A week after that, the school’s name was changed to “Mount Ebbot’s School for Young Humans and Monsters”.  A fortnight after that, the school instilled a uniform policy, so humans and monsters were the same.  The school was large. It was from 4th grade to Senior Year and there were 10 classes per year. Even so, there was only about 3-8 monsters per Form. The first day that Frisk had come to the school, they met their current human friends. It was lunchtime and they didn’t know where to sit, so they grabbed the first seat they saw. This seat just so happened to be right next to Nathan’s and then Monster Kid came to sit down and then after that, they just gradually became friends. 

“Alright then class, if you’ve all finished these questions, I would like to do a quick demonstration. Frisk if you’d like to come up here please,” Mr Drowly’s voice cut through the air and Frisk didn’t say anything and just made their way up to the front. “Okay, I need someone else...Benjamin, how about you?”

“Yes, sir,” Benjamin replied. He was one of the very few people in the room that was in Frisk’s form and they just so happened to sit next to each other in both lessons.

“So I am going to show you a SOUL. Now usually only monsters can do this, so I brought this young and helpful volunteer from the year above you. It was as this point, Frisk noticed a monster sitting in the corner, and so the monster came up and Frisk felt a sudden weight shift in their chest. They looked down a saw a bright glowing red and when they looked over, they noticed that their companion’s was glowing purple. Perseverance. That was understandable. Benjamin was a practical twin of the Underground SOUL. “Now, as you can see, these are two SOULS. Determination and Perseverance. I believe that these change how you FIGHT?” The teacher looked at Frisk for assistance.

“Yeah. Mine’s free roaming, so you get go anywhere and it sprouts legs when you run away. That one means you stay on three lines and lets you go from line to line,”

The two people standing at the front were then allowed to go back to their desks and were first out as soon as the bell went. Outside, Frisk crossed the field to their friends and found Kate trying to stop a bleeding nose. “Dodge ball?” Frisk asked. The reply was just a nod. “I’m telling you, come train with me, then you can dodge things with ease,” Blood slowly dripped out of her nose, but Kate agreed.  

“Run,” Nathan said while looking into the distance. “RUN!” They turned around and saw Jakob and his self-proclaimed ‘gang’ walking towards them. They barely made it in time before the bell went and English started. For that lesson, they were sorted into sets and both Frisk and Kate were in the same one (8.2). The bleeding has stopped and they made to the classroom first, so they sat down and waited for a few minutes while the books were handed out. Despite being relatively good at it, English was probably Frisk’s least favourite lesson due to the fact that the teacher just talked and everything just went into one ear and out the other.  This semester’s topic was old English and how to translate it and Frisk hated it. How did “Anda” go to “Mind”? Their favourite lesson would have to be Gym as Undyne would always go easy on them, because they were apparently a “wimpy loser”. They looked at Kate beside them. The one good thing about English was that they got to pick their own seats. Despite the fact she was pretty much an emotionless robot, she seemed to like the opposite things to Frisk, as she hated Gym and liked English. The one thing she seemed to truly like was Nathan. Since the day the first met, it was obvious they had a thing for one another. Luckily, Frisk had Monster Kid so they never felt like a 3rd wheel.  Sometimes, Frisk would look at her and see their old best friend, with their red eyes and knife, ready to slash, but then the illusion would disappear and a 14 year old albino orphan girl would be standing there. The only thing they had in common was the fact they were both left-handed, but so was Frisk and about 10% of the population of the world.

“Are you okay?” Kate asked in that monotone voice of hers. “You’re staring at me,”                                             

“Yeah, just thinking about how much I hate English,”

“Class, get into pairs, today we will be working on _Beowulf._ As this is such a large task, you will need to get into pairs to complete even the first few words. You will write down whatever you will manage to translate in your books. You have 50 minutes, begin,” 

Frisk moved their chair to Kate’s desk and looked down at the work. It was filled with words that made no sense to either of them, so instead of attempting work, Kate just asked “What happened yesterday?”

“So I have this ability to-” they were cut off by the intercom starting up and the secretary saying “Can Frisk Dreemurr, Nathan Skies, Jakob Walten, Malcolm Winterstone, Harvey Cameron, Monster Kid, Andrew Brone and Kate Wright please go to the principal’s office.” All the people’s whose names were read out all got up and headed for the office. The “gang” tried to act all tough, but no-one cared. The main quartet all gathered and walked together, but they didn’t talk, which isn’t saying much about Frisk.

Outside, the office, Toriel was waiting, but she wasn’t alone; Sans was with her and said “heya, kiddo,” and Frisk greeted him with a hug. The height different was extremely apparent at that point, as Frisk had grown but Sans had not. He was wearing shoes for once, but they were untied and he still wore the same clothes he always did. There also seemed to be more parents. Nathan’s mom seemed to be talking in rapid Spanish and he was replying in the same speed. Kate was the only one who was on their own so she sat down and read.

The door opened and the principal asked for Frisk and Jakob. As they filed into the room, the principal turned his back and Jakob flipped Frisk off, but they ignored it. They sat down in the seats in front of the desk and the first question they were asked was “Do you two know why you’re here?”

“Well, sir, Jakob here broke some of my bones and that’s a criminal offense so now you’re probably going to tell him that you reported him to the police and we all need to go to the court and this has also been an ongoing problem and he has been malicious to me and my friends and this would probably add more offenses and therefore more time in prison,” replied Frisk.

“Well said, Frisk. Now, please leave so I can bring more people in.” The principal gestures to the door and Frisk obediently left.

Outside, they slumped against the wall and Sans handed them a bag filled with their uniform. A few minutes later, they were called back in to the office, along with Nathan, Kate, and Monster Kid. There were only two chairs so two of them had to stand. The principal said all of the exact same things and at the end he said “Now remember, at 2:30 next Monday, you will come here and we will take you all to court. You will not need anything except an adult. But first, I must ask you, why didn’t you tell anyone about this situation? Even if it wasn’t a member of staff, I’m sure a prefect would have been happy to help. Nathan, if I’m not very much mistaken, your sister is one herself,”

Nathan awkwardly shifted his weight before saying “I don’t like talking to people about my problems. She has too much to worry about anyway,” and with that, the four of them left, either going to their classrooms or the restroom to change in Frisk’s case.

The room was very silent, as it was lesson time. They sat down and started to think about the most random of things. They replayed their journey in the underground, thought about school and homework, thought about video games, thought about the days ahead. _How could someone have saved? I’m the only person in the world with DETERMINATION, except from Flowey. Even then, my DETERMINATION overrides his. Could there be someone else with it? And if there was, it would be the largest coincidence in the world if they even lived in the same country as me, let alone be able to SAVE right next to me and live near me. Could it be possible that they attend this school? Could it even be possible that I know them? Nah, too many coincidences. But, it’s still possible. Anyway, I should probably get changed, Sans didn’t come here for nothing._

After a few hours, Frisk’s favourite time of the day was here, lunchtime. They dragged their bag along the ground before they were interrupted by a “Ooh, cookies,” Nathan had spotted a small stand labelled “Girl Scout Cookies” and there sat two girls, each in their scouting uniforms. Their names were on pieces of paper placed on the table.

“Scouts Gina Moor and Evelyn Endeshaw sell these cookies in hopes that this will support the troop and end the gap between humans and monsters,”

The girls couldn’t be more different. One was leaning back and reading the pamphlets that were plastered on the wall and the other one looked around eagerly for new people to sell thing to. She perked up as soon as she saw the four people standing in front of her. She spoke quickly “Hi, my name’s Evelyn. I’m a girl scout, as you can probably tell. I’m selling these so that everyone can enjoy them. It’s $1 for 1 cookie, $5 if you buy a box of 6,” Her hair bounced as she talked. She must have been a couple years younger than them, in 6th grade at a guess. She had natural hair, tied back with a yellow ribbon, and dark skin, and her hands were placed confidently on the table. Nathan fished out a $10 bill and handed it to her.

“Here. I’ll have two Double Chocolates please.” He handed the boxes to Kate and Frisk “Because you two deserve them,”

As they made their way to the cafeteria, a girl snuck up behind them and placed her arm around Kate’s shoulder “Sup, sis?”

“I am not your sister, Roxy,” she replied. Roxanne shrugged. Her hair was wild and curly and she was extremely energetic. She reminded Frisk of a puppy whenever its owner came home.

“Well, I can see some people. Byyyyeeeeee,” the bye trailed off as she walked away.

After a day of being incredibly bored, it was finally time to go home and just for safety, Toriel took them. As soon as they reached their room, the human did the first thing any teenager questioning anything would do: Go on the internet.    

**Determination soul?**

Frisk’s own face flashed up on the screen and the website read

**Frisk Dreemurr, 14 years old as of January 19 th 2020, saved all monsters from being trapped beneath Mount Ebbot, Ebbot, Phoenix, Arizona. They were legally adopted by Toriel Dreemurr, former queen of the underground, at aged 10. They are the only living person to be known to posses the “DETERMINATION SOUL” but others are believed to have had it. Frisk is now the ambassador to the humans to protect monsters.**

Frisk sighed before their eyes focused on “To be known”. That could mean someone else is out there, but who?

 

Nathan lay spread out in the back of his brothers car listening to his siblings argue. At first, they started out in English, but as it became more heated, the Spanish came.

“ _It’s not my fault you got detention. Mom will be furious at you but that’s what happens when you steal things,”_

_“Listen, I’m driving, let me concentrate,”_

_“Fine...”_ and so they both shut up for the rest of the journey.

The first thing they heard as they entered was “ARF ARF ARF!” Nathan smiled down at his dog “Who’s a good girlie? Who’s a very good girlie? You are! Yes you are!” he spoke in a baby voice to Harriet, who was extremely happy to see her older siblings return from school. She barked and wagged her tail as she followed Nathan up the stairs to his room.

The room was a light blue, with a piano placed in the corner, a bed that was littered with paper and packets on which a dog now sat, and a shelf full of trophies and books he couldn’t be bothered to read. He crossed his room to the piano, played a few notes, and sat down. On his desk, there were two photographs, one with him and his family, the other with friends. There were random pieces of incomplete homework on the desk and a small statue of a dog. He looked at the friend photo and smiled. This was one of those rare times when Kate was beaming and their arms were above each other’s shoulders. Back before she hit 10, Kate was always smiling and laughing, and then something changed. He didn’t know what it was. He moved the photo to show Harriet and spoke to her “These are my friends. That one there, I like. I don’t just mean I like her as a friend, I mean I like her. She’s probably friend zoned me and this is the closest we will get. That doesn’t change my view, though.”  

 

Evelyn kicked the door open and shouted “I’m home!” There was no reply. “Huh. Must be at work,” She broke into the kitchen and grabbed a million snacks and proceeded to her room. There was a giant bowl of popcorn already set up on the bed and she stepped over discarded wrappers. As she lifted her hand, the door opened and she flung down the stairs. “MOOOOOOOOM!” she screamed hugging her mom, afraid to let go. “I sold like bajillion cookies today! Who knew they would be that popular?!” she said excitedly. “I mean seriously, cookies are delicious, the girl scout ones never sell that well, but I guess, throw them in front of kids and boom! Profit! But I mean what if they don’t like them and actually bought them because they felt bad for us?” she gasped “We didn’t put a nut allergy sign! What if someone dies because they ate a nut in our cookies! We’ll go to jail and I’ll never see you or dad or anyone again! I need to go check something!” so she ran off into her room.

 

Terri moved a few beer bottles as she opened the door. It was just her and she slumped against the door frame. Her dad was late, as per usual and she was all alone in the house. The floor was covered in cigarettes and the entire house smelled like smoke. A confederate flag waved near the wall. Terri was sick of her dad and what he stood for so she ignored all the signs that were clearly racist and went to her room.

It was the only room in the house that didn’t smell like smoke. With a small bed pushed against the corner and a fit so tight she could get across it in two steps. The pale pink walls were covered in posters of things like _Harry Potter_ , _Doctor Who_ and _Supernatural._ There was nothing she deemed oppressive allowed in the room and it always stayed that way.

An hour past, no dad. Two hours, no dad. Three. Nothing. 4 Still nothing. It was getting quite late so she needed to go to bed. The light was turned off and she must have lay there in the darkness for what felt for days until she finally slipped into a dream.

 

Jakob reached over to the bowl which contained the food for his mom. She looked up and signed “ _I heard you need to go to court tomorrow. Why?”_

“Mom...I-I didn’t mean it. They were just there and they’re so small and weak and perfect for punching,”

“ _You beat up someone? Who was it?”_

“You know Frisk, the savior of monsters and ambassador and all around pacifist?” he said.

_“No, you didn’t. Aunt Sophie and I are both disappointed in you,”_

“I know mom, I’m sorry, I just need to go,” and so he left to go outside. He wasn’t one to say sorry but in this ground floor apartment, he was bound to the mercy of his mom. He didn’t like to see her sad, especially after his dad’s death and her stroke leaving her with permanent brain damage. Now she couldn’t walk or do much for herself and Jakob was left to look after her, getting money off of his aunt and occasionally getting paid by people to do their dirty work.

 

Frisk ate their sandwich as they checked their phone. “To be known” kept nagging at their mind. Someone was out there and they didn’t believe it was for anything good.

 


	3. An Afternoon at Grillby's

“Wait, so you’re telling me that you died and then came back to life and you never told us?!”

“Yeah, pretty much.”

Nathan kicked a fallen can and stared at Frisk like they were an alien. It was the day after they arrived at school without uniform and had broken a lot of their bones. Now, everyone was heading to their house after school.

Suddenly, the sound of crying came from around the corner and Benjamin scrambled around with a bloody nose, looked at the four people in front of him, gestured behind him and ran off. They peered around the corner to see Jakob with a blood covered fist talking to his friends. Then they made eye contact and there was a moment of silence before someone yelled “GET ‘EM!” and they made a quick movement before...

A song started to play. It sounded familiar to Frisk and suddenly everything turned black and white and the view became a rainbow of SOULS, Jakob having a dark blue one himself. “i wouldn’t do that if i were you.” Came a menacing growl and everyone swivelled round to see a skeleton face to face with them. The “gang” swore loudly and ran off. Sans turned to face the kids saying “come on, let’s go grillby’s. i know a shortcut.” There was a second and they teleported. Nathan grabbed the wall for stability.

They made their way into the dusty bar, the sound of music filling the air and some monsters were talking in low voices, humans clearly being a rare sight in there. Dogs were playing poker and a few people greeted Sans as he came in and brought the kids to a booth near the window. Frisk and Sans sat on one side, while everyone else sat on the other. Grillby came over to take their orders, pen and paper in hand, somehow not burning. There was arguing on the dog table, apparently they had been able to look at Doggo’s cards because he kept moving them into their views.

“i’ll have an order of burg, grillbz,” Sans said as Grillby gestured to the paper. The kids just ordered all the same thing: fries.

“Oh, yeah, can I have armless cutlery, please?” Grillby nodded as he went to fetch the food, leaving a trail of smoke behind him. Frisk turned to their friends and explained what had happened.

“So I can come back from the dead, but I’m not immortal. I can die forever, well, sort of. I’ll be dead, but because my SOUL can live on, I can come back as a ghost...not really the right word...spirit? Anyway, you get what I mean. I’m pretty sure you can do that thing where you’re still sort of alive, except you won’t be able to do it to the level that I can. Also, people with a certain SOUL colour will automatically gravitate to the colour that their SOUL is. So, if you have INTEGRITY, you would go towards things that are dark blue. I personally don’t tend to wear red, but I do like it,”

“Ok...cool...I wonder what my SOUL is,” Nathan replied.

“i can do that for you, kid,” Sans said. He rose his hand and there was a short glowing in Nathan chest before it revealed an orange SOUL. BRAVERY. Makes sense, he seems like a pretty brave person. Frisk thought, Nathan’s SOUL had disappeared at this point and he was staring down at his chest. “Woah,” he said quietly. The fries were there, so they all began to eat. Sans understandably drank out of the ketchup bottle, and Grillby knew he would do that, so two had been set out on the table. Monster Kid had gotten a strange looking straw, but it was too wide. They easily ate the fries using it, Frisk didn’t understand how, though. Another dog got annoyed and started barking. Dogressa was shushing him saying “Shush, there are children here,”

Everyone quickly finished their food and left, not before Sans said “put it on my tab,” Outside, Muffet was selling samples of her pastries. Selling. Not giving, selling. She still hadn’t accustomed to the currency, so no-one could buy any of it, which resulted in some death glares. The two mountains dominated the Ebbot skyline, casting a dark shadow on the outskirts. The school was slightly visible under Mount Ebbot, it looked picturesque. “Wow, this looks good,” Frisk commented. They could have sworn they heard Nathan mutter under his breath “Better with Kate in it,”

They walked to Frisk’s house, taking in the view and trying not to die of a heatstroke. Nathan hummed with the occasional lyrics of “Blazing in me out of all control,” The streets were busy. The town was clearly not prepared for the growth in population; too many houses were cheaply built and tall. The monsters integrated well with humans, the other way around, not so much. There were protests galore for the first few months, and there were still anti-monster groups, but Frisk had shut most of them down.

When they got there, Sans left to his house, which was only next door. Frisk unlocked the door “Make yourself at home. There is food in the kitchen, so if you’re still hungry, then go ahead.” They crossed into the room; Flowey was placed on the counter, his pot having a small yellow ribbon attached to it. Him and Kate caught each other’s eyes for a second and something flashed in his eyes. Friendliness? Hatred? Frisk couldn’t tell. “Everyone, meet Flowey. He’s a flower, obviously, and he may seem unfriendly at first, but he’s actually alright. He mainly goes everywhere, but he also stays in my garden sometimes, but he also has a pot in the house that my mom might put him in.” Frisk left and everyone followed them to their room. It was dark and they noticed that Papyrus had cleaned it. A plate of spaghetti rested on the pillow, clearly Papyrus thought it would still be warm after school, but it was stone cold. It was just the same as yesterday, when they arrived back home to find a plate of spaghetti on their pillow. It was kind of comforting to Frisk, as though it was a sign that they were home.

Frisk’s eyes wandered over to their bedside table, where a photo was placed of the entire monster family. Nathan hand fell over the middle of his chest and he asked “So...orange...what’s that mean? Why is it shaped like a heart? Are there more shapes?”

“BRAVERY, I don’t know, no,” Frisk replied. “Anyway, I forgot to ask, how’s life?”

“It’s good. Scarlet got mad this morning because Harriet had gotten hold of her history project and torn it to shreds. When I was walking Harriet this morning, she saw another dog and instead of being happy and wagging her tail, she growled! My sweet baby girl actually growled! Shocking! She licked me on the hand after that, though. How are you feeling about going to court?”

“Oh, I forgot about that. I’m scared, but it’s not as scary as when I almost died by falling off the cliff, but Frisk helped me,” Monster Kid replied. “I still have no idea how I stayed on the side. Life’s weird now, because I always thought that Undyne would come to school and beat up all the teachers, now, she is a teacher!”

 

Benjamin searched around his house for his homework. He knocked on his sister’s door, saying “Sky, where’s my homework?” The reply he got was less than kind. Out of his sisters, there was only 1 that he actually, genuinely liked. They were triplets and considered the most popular girls in school, while Benjamin was always the kid picked last, the one that had no friends. He guessed that’s why he admired Frisk so much. Out of all 7,000,000,000 people in the world, he just so happened to be the person sitting next to them, what are the chances? He had a comfortable life; he was living in a first world country, he was well above the poverty line, he wasn’t abused, he was beaten up sometimes by absolute idiots, the leader even dating his sister, and by dating, he meant staying up late into the night, you know, doing things.

His dad worked so late into the night and his stepmom went out drinking and wouldn’t come back until the next morning. His cat was basically nowhere to be found, his oldest sister was “at some friend’s house” (translation: terrorizing 12 year olds and smoking with no end), his middle sister was at football practice and his youngest-older sister was browsing comic books at the library, leaving Benjamin home alone. There was a note that read:

**Ben,**

**There is food. Eat it. You need to hydrate and eat; we don’t want you getting sick again, and don’t make it anything light, eat something like a sandwich, not just chips. I love you**

**-Caitlyn**

He smiled and signed it off to prove that he had read it. He didn’t view food as something to be enjoyed, and mainly just ate quick foods that kept him going, and when often go days without eating and would end up in hospital. There were times where he would catch himself in the mirror and noticed how thin he was, his cheeks and eye sockets were sunken in. He would end up in hospital due to malnutrition, but nothing could dampen his academic skills. His intelligence was comparable to a collage graduate at the age of 9 and he knew everything about everything. You need the coordinates of somewhere? He can calculate it for you. You don’t know something? He’s got you covered. Life was good, even if it had its low points.

 

Frisk sat there, talking about their journey in the underground with the occasional interjection by Monster Kid.

“Monty, if you keep interrupting, we won’t get to the exiting parts like battles!” Nathan said as Monster Kid opened their mouth to say something.

“So then I was like ‘Alphys, you need to tell Undyne your feelings for her, and I guess it worked out because they’re still dating to this day. You know, I really wish two other people that I know would do as well,” “Really, who?”Nathan asked. Frisk recreated what was now known as their “underground face”. He was brave, yes, but he was so unobservant.

They talked for hours after that, Kate mainly looking at the photo and staying silent. When it was finally time for everyone to leave, Frisk stared out of the window. Apart from not being able to SAVE, this timeline was going smoothly. They had never gotten to this point; Chara would always pop up and tell them to RESET, but since they weren’t there, Frisk just left it. They had friends, they had a family and a pretty successful education and part time job as ambassador to the monsters. They were still haunted by the genocide routes, though. If they looked in the mirror, Chara would stare back at them, but at a second glance, it was just Frisk. They would sometimes talk to Flowey about it, but he just looked sad, this was his sibling they were talking about. Technically, Flowey was Frisk’s brother, but they didn’t like to think about that too much. They caught sight of Sans and they both grinned at each other before he closed the curtains.

Now, Sans and Papyrus seems so happy, but Frisk remembers seeing their faces as they died. Sans’ death was probably the one they remember the most, mainly because of the fight that caused it. Frisk was the only person in the world who knows what it feels like to be thrown into the air only to be impaled by a bone. Toriel’s face as she lost her love for her child and Undyne’s as she knew her death wasn’t in vain was chilling.

They went to bed and had no idea what would happen in school the next day.


	4. The First Death

Frisk woke up with the sun burning their bed. They crossed the house to the kitchen, where Toriel was making them sandwiches, but suddenly, whilst getting cereal, she slumped to the floor. “Mom...MOM!” Frisk called. Toriel looked at them and that’s when they noticed the slash marks.

“Ha ha...now I know who I was really protecting,” she looked up at Frisk with hate in her eyes as her body turned to dust, he SOUL lingering in the air before cracking. Frisk ran out into the street, the ground covered in dust and blood. Humans lay on the ground and Frisk spun around to see Asriel.

“See,” he said “This is what we can achieve together. Join us, Frisk,” Omega Flowey’s laughter filled the air and they covered their ears, but it was endless.

They woke up with the laughter still ringing in their ears. Everything was okay, all they needed was to go to school and no-one would be dead, right?

 

At school, everyone was outside, trying not to burn themselves on the hot patio. Frisk was talking to Nathan while Monster Kid and Kate were reading a book larger than their heads. There was no blood and no dead people, just as Frisk predicted. There were injuries, though; as Frisk could see out of the corner of their eye, someone was next to them and they were clearly crying. “Guys, I’ve got to see who this is. They are in trouble and I’m going to help,”

“Okay whatever.” Nathan moved closer so he could read the book “So, what’s going on?”

The crying had stopped now, but the person was still there. Frisk rounded the corner to find the one person they were never expect to see upset; Benjamin. His arm was twisted at an awkward angle and he was holding it.

“Ben?” He looked up and froze at the sight of Frisk.

“Uuh...hi.” he attempted a smile, but it just caused him to wince “As you can see, there is something wrong with my arm,”

“Yeah, let’s get you to the Nurse’s office.” They helped Benjamin up and turned to their friends and said “Nurse’s Office. Bye.”

 

The office was big and the light didn’t reach the corners. There were empty chairs and a few people that had bloody noses and there was a bed placed off to the side with a table in the middle. Frisk went to the nearest chair and started talking to Ben.

“How did this happen?”

“I was walking along and then I tripped over some branch and to avoid my face from coming in contact with the thorns of the branches, I swerved and landed awkwardly on the ground and fell on my arm. I’m read books about bones and what it’s like to break one, and I don’t think I have so I’m going to stay at school,”

“Cool. How are you after school yesterday?”

“Huh? Oh, that. I’m fine, it was just a nosebleed. I went home, ate and...you don’t care do you?” He took a deep breath before continuing “I really admire you. I find it amazing how you SAVED everyone and how you still have a time for school and a job. You are amazing and still you are bullied...why?”

“I don’t know, anyway, bye, see in class later.” Frisk left to go back to their friends when the bell rang.

 

Two extremely slow lessons passed and then it was finally time for lunch. Ben, now with a sling on his arm, knocked on the door and Toriel replied “Come in,”

“I’ve finished all of the homework. Can I have some more please? I really think it would further my education,”

Toriel left to the back of the room to find another piece of homework for him to complete, but when she turned around, he was completely gone.

 

Outside, Frisk rested their head on the school wall. Everything was going its normal and boring way. That was, until the scream. It pierced through the air like a dagger on that calm day. People naturally ran towards the source of the sounds, so a few thousand people all trying to push through the corridors of the school made things quite hard to see. Luckily for Frisk, they were at the front.

Everyone stopped right at the door of an empty classroom. A few more people screamed and someone started taking pictures. Frisk was wrong: there was bloodshed, there was death.

Two people lay on the cold classroom floor, a girl and a boy. The girl had merely fainted and was quickly woken up by a nearby teacher. The boy, on the other hand, clearly was not just asleep. Glass surrounded him from where his face had made contact with the floor. His uniform was now blood-soaked and there was a hole where his was stabbed. The carpet was stained red with blood and some of it had leaked onto his face, making him almost impossible to identify. The one thing that set him apart from everyone else was a make shift sling around his left arm.

Around school, for the ones who didn’t see it, news of the death of Benjamin Morpeton had spread like wildfire. The school was put on lockdown and everyone was ushered to the auditorium. Parents arrived as quickly as possible and even government personnel were there. Frisk was brought to the front to a microphone and they cleared their throat.

“So, as you should know, a body has been found on the 2nd floor. As it has only been an hour, we don’t know the cause of death, but what we can tell is that it was human-”

Someone shouted through the crowd “NO! I KNEW MONSTERS WERE EVIL! I WANT ALL OF THEM TO BE THROWN BACK NDER THE MOUNTAIN! THEY ARE SCUM!”

More people started shouting and agreeing with the person but them someone called over them “SHUT UP!”

“Thank you, as I was saying, the wound is clearly human made through a stabbing. If a monster created it, they would most likely use magic, not a knife. Monsters will not be going back to the mountain, if I can help it. We need to check the footage to actually find the suspect. For today, school will continue as normal, but tomorrow, it will close for the day. If anyone here wants to take their child home, do so.

The day was infinitely grimmer after that. Students watched as Ben’s body was carried out of the gates into an ambulance. People disappeared to their houses and the ones that remained stayed in tight groups, no-one on their own. The weather did not reflect the mood, as it continued being bright and sunny. Everyone was silent in lessons and the police would occasionally rush past. Even the loudest and most obnoxious people were quiet as the day rolled on.

Outside of school, things were awful. Many workers would rush past the gates after lunch hour was over and Mount Ebbot loomed over everyone, rather than made things picturesque. Streets were deserted, everyone in their houses. Once a small boy pointed at the school, but he was moved along. A murder in a largely happy town, it was almost like a work of fiction. The day dragged on and the students were let out of the school. They walked quickly, but didn’t separate. Monster Kid quivered behind Frisk, but they left once they were home.

Papyrus opened the door when Frisk knocked. He looked down at the small child and could’ve smiled, it was hard to tell. The first smell that hit Frisk when they walked in was the smell of someone cooking. Undyne was in the kitchen, smashing pots to pieces. She looked up when she saw them. “Y’alright, punk? I was there, so I made dinner!” she moved to show several broken plates, fruit that had gone everywhere and the Annoying Dog was there lapping it up.

“Lovely,” Frisk scrunched up their face, their expression was indescribable, and so they left to their room, grabbing a bag of chips on the way.  The bed looked so inviting and it had been an emotionally exhausting day, but they must do some research.

**In Today’s News:**

**MURDER ON THE MOUNTAIN SIDE**

**On April 23 rd, the body of Benjamin Morpeton was found in a classroom in Mount Ebbot School for Young Humans and Monsters. This loss will be great, as Benjamin was an intelligent, keen student. At his time of death, Benjamin was 14 and it is believed he died of a stab wound in his chest. Our reporter Jude Sakburg recently interviewed one of his sisters. Click below to see the full interview**

**Interviewer: So how with this death affect you?**

**Caitlyn: This loss is awful for my family. We will miss him**

**Interviewer: Do you think there are any motives behind this?**

**Caitlyn: No, not that we know of**

**Interviewer: Do you agree with what the forensic team says about how a human committed this?**

**Caitlyn: Yes, I have always been open with monsters and think they are a valid part of our society. I do believe that it was a human.**

**Interviewer: Thank you for this. We will do all you can to help you through troubling times.**

As they lay on the bed, Frisk started to daydream. They imagined it as Ben’s face made contact with the ground. The girl that found him must have seen his body, screamed and then fainted. “Frisk?” they heard as they drifted off to sleep. Flowey was on the windowsill, looking at the bed. His petals were noticeably duller than usual. “I heard what happened. You don’t think it was...them, do you?

“No. They’re gone, I don’t know where or why, but they just have,”

“You don’t know that. Just because you haven’t seen them doesn’t mean they’re gone,”

“I know you were their brother, but you need to accept that-“

“No! They’re not gone. I can feel it,”

“You can feel it? This isn’t fantasy; you can’t feel when people die or when they’re alive,”

“Frisk, they’re here,”

“NO THEY’RE NOT, ASRIEL!” The room went silent.

“I’m not Asriel...” Flowey whispered croakily. “I left that behind, and if you tell mom or anyone, I’ll tell them all how you’re a mass murderer. Oh don’t give me that look; you’re not as naive and innocent as people say you are. Someone actually died today and what if it was someone that we know has killed many people,”

“Like you?”

“Frisk, you know I’ve changed. Besides, you said it was a stab wound, guess whose signature weapon is a knife. Yeah, that’s what I thought,” he left, his words still fresh in Frisk’s mind.

 

That night, Frisk had a nightmare. They were in school, following Ben around tight corridors and passing doors that were marked with numbers. He was being dragged along by some invisible force that he was struggling against, but it was too strong. His arm was still crooked, but he hit his captor with the first thing he could find, a sheet of homework. The stand for the cookies was set up, but no-one was there. Then Frisk witnessed it, the murder. He opened his mouth to scream, but it was silenced. He managed to make the words “in classroom” slip through the cracks, but that’s when the knife entered his abdomen.  His eyes opened in shock and his knees buckled and his glasses completely shattered before landing on the ground, the purple frames being hopeless. That’s when the killer looked up and stared directly at Frisk. To their shock, it was them. Their eyes narrowed and they lunged at themselves brandishing a knife. The world went black.

Frisk woke up in cold sweat, their heart racing. They knew it wasn’t them, but they couldn’t shake the feeling of guilt. A note was on the side of the window with a familiar handwriting style:

 

**Frisk**

**Nathan wants us to meet at his house right now. It’s 3:28 currently, it doesn’t matter, just come. He says we need to talk. He also says bring dog treats to silence his dog.**

**-Kate**

 

_Ok, guess I’m going there now. In the middle of the night. Right after a murder. But hey, school cancelled tomorrow, what is there to lose?_


	5. Hills, New Arrivals,and Time In Court

The warm night air formed sweat on the back of Frisk’s neck. The walk to Nathan’s was long, but they met up with Monster Kid halfway through. “Heya, Frisk,” they said.

  
“Hey, Monty.” they walked mainly in silence after that, the melancholy atmosphere of the day still hanging in the air. When they actually reached the house, Nathan’s hand appeared from the gate beckoning them to the backyard. The backyard was extremely bare, with the ground near the door being covered in cigarettes buts and a hutch in the corner where two rabbits lay sleeping. Frisk pointed to the cigarettes and Nathan simply stated “Micah,”

  
They left quickly out of the gate to a section of the town that Frisk had never been to before. The outskirts of Ebbot were surrounded of small hills that were by-products of the two mountains. They ascended to the top of a smaller one in a matter of minutes. Nathan set down a blanket he had brought that Frisk had failed to notice. He leaned back and gestured for them to sit.

  
“So what do you think about what happened today?” Nathan started the conversation.

  
“Well I’m pretty sure it was murder. I mean the dude didn’t kill himself, Frisk said so. I know monsters better than all of you and it was not one of them,” Monster Kid replied.

  
“Trust me, it was murder, I’ve seen those kinds of wounds before, they’re definitely stab wounds,” Frisk stated, repeating themselves from earlier.

  
“Wait, how do you know that?” Nathan asked. Frisk mentally swore. They were one wrong question from finding out their friend was a murderer. Luckily, Kate saved them.

  
“I agree with Frisk and MK. It was murder,” she said.

  
“Well, that’s that then, it was murder. The real question is who did it and why?” Nathan asked.

  
“I don’t know. I really liked Ben as well, he was kind to me. He said he admired me and I thought that was sweet because I’ve never had an admirer before. He actually looked up to me and I never noticed,”

  
“You know, he liked you. I mean ‘had a crush on you’ liked. Remember when we used to be partners in home ec? Well I said we needed a pan and he just pointed to himself and said ‘Found one’. He also used to ask me about you and eventually told me that he had a crush on you. Nothing serious, just a little school crush,” Nathan said.

  
“Oh, I never realised. That’s cool. It’s a shame he’s gone now. So what else do you want to talk about?” Frisk asked. In the distance, the sun was fast approaching. There was a shadow over them and birds started chirping in a few trees and everything was bathed in an orange glow. Frisk train of thought was interrupted by the sound of heavy snoring so they looked over and saw that their friends had fallen asleep.

_Oh well, I guess mom will just be worried about me when I don’t come home. Time for another psychedelic drug trip dream._

Frisk was back at home. Flowey was on the open window sill, wind blowing through his petals. “You know Frisk, if you just joined me, we wouldn’t be here. You wouldn’t care about anyone dying and Chara would be with you. You’ve done it before, so why not now? LOVE can help. Imagine where you could be right now, God of this world and true ruler. We’re here, though, and someone died and you know who did it,”

  
“You’d be dead. I know it would be my fault, Chara couldn’t bring themselves to pull the strings and do it, so it was me. I slashed you and you died. You wouldn’t be here, let alone rule the world,”

  
“Fri-” Flowey continued before stopping. Then something started to happen to him. He was shaking and the room was filled with a blinding red light. When Frisk looked back, the remains of Flowey were scattered all over and were flying out of the room.

  
_This is just a dream, like earlier. Flowey isn’t dead and you aren’t a murderer. Well, the latter part isn’t true, but you didn’t kill Ben and neither did Chara._

 

The next morning, everyone work up disorientated and one top of each other. Frisk moved Kate’s arm away from their face. There was the sound of distance roaring and Frisk could see a small mob of people where the noise was coming from. When they moved closer, there were signs with monsters’ faces on them. Frisk ran up to them.

  
“Hey, hey! What’s going on here?” they shouted to the nearest person, a man who looked vaguely familiar to them.

  
“Well it’s them isn’t it? One of them killed a boy, just showing how ruthless they really are. Look at that one. Its unnatural skin and bulging eyes, it’s dangerous, no wonder they were put under the mountain in the first place!” he was pointing at MK and they looked confused.

  
“Well, I’m shutting this down; I already said that it was a human.” Using their hands like megaphone, they continued “EVERYONE SHUT UP! IT WAS A HUMAN, THAT’S DISCLOSED SO JUST LEAVE IT!” When they didn’t stop, the friends just left. This wasn’t worth their time and the police would eventually sort it out.

  
Back at Nathan’s house, the first thing they heard was aggressive shouting in Spanish. Frisk looked confused but caught the words “Michael Gadiel Skies” so they assumed the shouting was at Micah. Frisk noticed that the cigarettes had been swept away and that was why the shouting had begun.

  
At home, Frisk was packing to go to Asgore’s for the week, but only after a shouting match with Toriel. They alternated between their parents every 1-2 weeks, and it did get annoying sometimes. If they left something at their dad’s, they had to wait until they go again to get it back, but this was their life. Frisk just hoped the next week would be better than the last.

 

The next Monday, Frisk entered the room. Their eyes darted around to see that everyone was extremely quiet, too quiet. Next to them, a pot of flowers had been placed on Ben’s desk, a sign of mourning. In the hushed voices, Frisk caught their name being said and a few people glanced in their direction. Even the students that Frisk knew and trusted were being quiet and looking at them strangely. They wondered if the protest had any effect on them, seeing as though it was a political issue.

  
Suddenly, the door swung open and a girl swept into the room, coffee in hand. Her nails were painted startling white to match the sunglasses she wore. Her hair was bleached blonde and it stood out against the orange fake tan of her skin. Her uniform was misplaced, being too short and too tight. She crossed the room to the nearest desk, which just so happened to be Ben’s. She knocked the flowers off of it with her bag and set her coffee down, taking her sunglasses off in the process. She looked down at Frisk, who was right next to her and scoffed. She faked a smile and said “Chelsea Branner. You all should have heard of me. You are?”

  
“Wait, I may not have heard of you but you seriously haven’t heard of me? Frisk Dreemurr, ambassador to the monsters, saviour of the world? No? Ok, whatever,” Chelsea lost her smile and turned to face the room.

  
It took a few seconds for the class to process what had just happened. Finally one of Frisk’s classmates, Jack Wilson, broke the tension by saying “Hey, that’s Ben’s desk!” The class agreed and started shouting various other things. Chelsea smiled and scoffed again “Listen, I don’t know who this ‘Ben’ person it, but he’s gone now and I’m here. So I’d like all of you to pay attention to me from now on,” There was a silent disagreement before Jack’s voice cracked through again “oK,”

  
Over the next hour, the class grew to utterly despise the new girl. She was cynical and insanely smart, but not in the same way as Ben was. If they talked about something subjective, she would try and sway people to her opinion. She was people smart, knowing how to manipulate and change them. The worst part was that Toriel didn’t notice a thing. What they gathered from her was that her dad made some movies that were seriously overrated and she moved there from LA because they were making a movie about monsters. Mettaton was of course the main character, with her dad being an extra.

  
The grim tones were punctured by Chelsea’s fake smile and spray tan. Frisk looked over to the flowers and photos that lay outside on the wall, the candles being put out because they were a fire hazard. In the corner of their eye, Terri was running towards Frisk and co, brandishing a letter. Her face was red and she was out of breath. It took a second to process what she was saying before finally Frisk registered “Ms Dreemurr says you’re needed in the principal’s office,”

  
_Well the time has come. I’ve been in court before, so this won’t be so bad._

  
They were all piled into separate minibuses and driven through. It was unusual to see the deserted streets, people still experiencing the after effect of a murder. There was no noise both outside and inside the bus, everyone too scared to say anything. Toriel broke the silence by saying “We’re here.” She sported a supportive smile.

  
The court building was an intimidating brick block, with high windows and ivy growing out of the sides. Important looking people were hurrying in and out. Frisk didn’t realise it at first, but the “minibus” the other 4 got into was actually an undercover police van. They were all released in handcuffs and police men surrounding them. The main 4 watched as they were escorted in, and went in themselves.

  
The inside was just as scary. There were huge double doors leading to a court room and several others leading off to different, smaller rooms, like offices. The room they were going wasn’t to be opened for another 5 minutes and the wait was excruciating. Frisk rehearsed their lines in their head: _They were trying to kill me. I had broken bones and bruises everywhere. It was devastating. Blood covering me. Blah blah blah_

  
The time had come. Frisk was horrified as they stepped through the doors, their blood pumping. They wished to be Sans in that moment and just teleport away. They had to do this, though. These people deserved to be in jail. Frisk wouldn’t be surprised if it was one of them who committed the murder.

  
Everyone took their seats and apparently Mettaton got them the best lawyer around; himself. Frisk sat down next to him and he whispered “Good luck, darling,” That’s just what the small child needed, luck. Luck’s what got them through the underground; luck’s what got them a happy life. Luck also gave them regrets and worries. They wouldn’t have been there if it weren’t for luck.

  
The judge announced that it was time for the trial. After the briefings, he called the first witness. A girl that was vaguely familiar to Frisk got to the stand. “Miss Emily Wright,” Mettaton announced. _Hehe...Emily Wright, Kate Wright...no, serious._ “Miss Wright, where were you the afternoon of the crime?”

  
“Well I was across the street from Frisk. I saw them in pain, stand there for a few seconds and then faint,”

  
“Your honour!”Cried the other lawyer, someone clearly more qualified than Mettaton. “If the child was seriously injured by the others, why don’t they bare any of them?”

  
“Sustained. Mx Dreemurr, is it true that your mother has healing powers. If you were injured, why not go to her?” the judge asked.

  
Frisk was quick with a reply “I did your honour. That’s why I don’t have any injuries.”

  
“These people, your apparent friends, did they ever see you with these injuries?”

 

  
“Well no but-”  
“There is no evidence to support the claims of your injuries. Defence, how do you plead?”

  
Jakob spoke aloud “Innocent,”

  
“Well I hereby announce the defendant innocent. Dismissed!”

  
There were a few cries of retaliation, mainly from Nathan. There was also sighs of relief from the defence; they had won and now Frisk had no hope of escape from them. It was over and they were scared of what would happen next.


	6. Camp Death

The bus was cramped and full. 56 school aged girls all shoved into one space and it was not pretty. It wasn’t even a long drive, but even after five minutes, they were bored. Some of them were reading, some talking. They were all active except for one girl. She rested her head against her best friend’s shoulder and almost fell asleep if it weren’t for the noise. Her best friend, Gina Moor was playing with the other girl’s hair lazily.

“Evelyn?” she asked to her barely awake friend. “Do you think there’ll be another death at our school while we’re away?”

Evelyn grimaced at the thought of that. She was one of the people near the back, her short stature meaning she couldn’t see anything, but she saw pictures. She avoided that room at all costs, even if it was of the up most inconvenience.

“Come on,” ushered Gina “you’re never quiet. I’m usually the one not talking and you’re always bouncing around, what’s up?”

Evelyn opened her mouth to reply, but a voice rang out, interrupting her. “Alright girls, we’re here. Now remember, find other people with the same colour card as you. That’s your team. I want you to be on your best behaviour during this trip. You are missing three days of school as a privilege, not a right. Also Mount Mornow has much more dangerous slopes than Mount Ebbot, so don’t try to climb it. So go get your luggage and reconvene just down the path from here, you can’t miss it.”

Suddenly, Evelyn lit up and became her former self. She was grabbing onto Gina’s arm like it was a life ring. “Oh my god oh my god I’m so excited I’ve waited too long for this it might as well have been my entire life I love this I mean it isn’t Mount Ebbot but still I love it I’m just soooo happy ok I’ll stop now but still are you excited because I am imagine everything we’ll do we might roast marshmallows and go hiking i love this so much okay bye.”

Gina chuckled. Her old friend was back and she loved it. The little ball of energy, her yellow ribbon swinging behind her as her moved her head rapidly. The only way to possibly describe her accurately was a puppy. They all got out of the coach and Evelyn didn’t stop talking.

 

Meanwhile, Nathan was slamming his head on the desk. Fifteen minutes into the school day and he already wanted to die. Well, maybe not die, because who would take Harriet for walks? All the people in the class made him want to claw his eyes out. He wished any of his friends shared his thoughts, but they were all getting on with their work. He could see Frisk slowly breaking sitting next to Chelsea, as she absentmindedly stuck her hand up to answer another question. She had been there for  2 days and not only had she asserted herself as a genius, she had also gotten “friends”, idiots who think that she’s actually worth wasting their time on. She didn’t even care that she replaced a dead person. He knew it was malicious, but Nathan knew everyone wished it was her whose body they discovered. They would rather deal with the slightly cold but still kind Ben over evil genius in fake tan and hair dye.

Nathan turned his attention to everyone else in the class. Jack and Maja, the class’ resident sickly-sweet couple had both moved to the back of the room and now were basically devouring each other’s faces. They were 14. It wasn’t pretty. He made eye contact with Finn behind him and they both just sighed and looked back at the front.

 

3 miles away, people were rioting against monster living in Ebbot. Terri Larnsby was stuck there and muttering to herself “I would actually rather do math over this,” She had been dragged out there by her dad, and there he was, in all his confederate flag waving, gun yielding, racist glory. He never would have done this before 2016, but then he kicked his wife and teenage daughter out because apparently “Mexicans are drug dealers and rapists” and kept Terri because “She is white and pure”. Terri hated her father with a burning passion, but she did him to survive, so she just put up with him.

 

“-and that’s why you should _always_ stay away from the woods,” The day was almost out. The air smelled of smoke with a hint of hot chocolate. The girls were practically sleeping on each other. Other campers could be heard in the distance, still awake and lively. If the girls of Ebbot Girl Scouts could redo the day, they definitely would. They needed sleep in that moment, so with the distant laughter still in their ears, they walked off to their cabins.

The cabins seemed to be quite basic. With 12 beds to one, the girls could use space sparingly and soon they were filled with clothes and bags. Evelyn’s cabin was the smallest, with only 10 beds, but still enough space to fill it with mundane items. Beds were freshly made, but that didn’t mask the smell of damp wood. Three of the girls sprayed perfume as soon as they entered, but it was not use. Evelyn swung her legs onto her bed, the lights now out, but she was still wide awake.

“Gina!” she whispered harshly. “Gina!”

“What? I’m trying to sleep.”

“Do you believe those stories? I mean, someone was murdered in our school. You don’t think it was because of that, do you?”

“Evelyn, we live in a world of monsters. I’m pretty sure it’s real,”

“Oh.” Evelyn shivered, despite the freshly made blankets. She couldn’t shake the feeling that something bad was going to happen. She just needed to sleep on it.

“Ok, goodnight,” she didn’t whisper it, as she was now talking to the whole cabin and soon the sound of snoring filled the air. That sound would later be punctured by screams. 

 

9 hours before that, though, the students of Mount Ebbot School for Young Humans and Monsters, were all piled into the cafeteria, and in a small corner, the most important person in that town’s history was complaining about a girl.

“-I mean she has all the teachers just wrapped around her finger and they’re all like ‘Ooh, she’s such a good example. The smartest person in her year’ like shut up, no she isn’t.  Ben could totally win in a battle of intelligence. Oh, hi, Terri. Anyway, as I was saying...wait, what’s up with you?”

Terri looked extremely dishevelled, her hair was out of place and Frisk was sure they could see bruises on her pale skin. “I was at a stupid riot. My dad forced me to be there. Thankfully, we got shut down, but I was shoved so many times and hit that now I looked like this. What’d I miss?” she sang the last words.

“Just Frisk ranting about a girl in our class.” Nathan’s voice startled Terri, as she didn’t realise anything else was there. “Hi. I’m Nathan, we haven’t met properly yet. Do you wanna shake hands or...” he awkwardly held out his hand.

“Theresa -or Terri- Larnsby, nice to meet you.” She shook his hand and Frisk was sworn they noticed something like jealousy flash in Kate’s eyes.

“Anyway, she’s literally just a Barbie doll, who looks perfect on the outside, but inside, she’s just plastic.”

“Is this person an Auton?” Terri asked jokingly.

“What?”

What?” and with that, the bell rang and everyone filed out to class.

 

The next morning, the class waited for the she-demon to waltz in until a small girl ran in, paper in hand. “Look!” she shouted, holding out the paper for everyone to see “There have been 2 murders!” She handed the paper to Frisk, who was nearest, and they began to read out loud:

“On the 29th April, the body of Chelsea Branner was found in an alleyway in the South of Ebbot-“

“Well, I’m not Christian, but I still thank God.” Fin butted in.

“I am Christian and I do as well,” Nathan said.

“The police believe there is no relation between this and the murder in Ebbot School on Thursday. They are still investigating the possible cause of death, but it is likely head trauma.

Similarly, the body of Evelyn Endeshaw was found which is connected to the murder on Thursday. Her body was discovered by her close friend Gina Moor in the bottom bunk of a cabin. Like Benjamin Morperton’s body, which had Pe carved into his hand, Endeshaw has a letter on her hand-J.

Ooh, I never noticed that

She was also killed in a similar fashion and the murders are definitely connected. It appears there is a serial killer loose in the town.”

There was a silence before finally someone said “So who was it?”

“I personally still think it was a monster,” said a voice in the back. Everyone turned around to face a girl, Siobhan, a usually quiet girl.

“Why?” asked Abnity, one of the monsters in the class.

“Well,” she continued “my family’s been living in Ebbot since the start, even before European settlers took over. I guess my great times something grandfather was a cause for the war. One day he was just minding his own business until he saw something he wished he hadn’t. A monster had absorbed someone’s SOUL and was _eating_ the person. I’ll spare you the gory details, but it was horrific. My ancestor then ran out and alerted the townspeople, causing widespread panic and eventually, an all out war. So I’m not saying all monsters are bad, but the likely hood, is that was a monster,”

“Hold on, I did not spend at least 6 hours of my life saving murderers,” Frisk argued. “and I know that it wasn’t a monster because why would a monster use a knife if they have mag- actually, scratch that, I know several monsters that would. But still,”

“Yeah, but we’ve all heard your story, Frisk. How many times did a monster try and kill you?”

Frisk opened they mouth to retaliate back before realising it was actually a valid point. It could’ve been a monster. In fact, a monster would have more reason to do it, with all the hate they had been receiving. They thought for a second before finally “There are more human murderers than monster murderers,”

“Yeah, because monsters were trapped underground for hundreds of years, what do you expect? I think another war’s going to start because of it, and humans are probably going to win.” The class’ eyes moved to Frisk who just turned around and sat down. They had been protecting monsters for almost 5 years at this point; they didn’t want to have to go back on it all. The class could believe what they wanted to believe but Frisk was going to stick by their morals, even if it meant death.

_They don’t know anything about monsters. They’re just scared and confused, but they’ll forget about it by the end of the day. There’ll be no war, everything’s fine. Even if there was one, monsters could win. They think it would be humans, but people thought the British would win the American Revolution, but guess what? They didn’t. Is everyone staring at me? I hope not. Humans can be murderers too, I’m living proof. The only murderer I know besides myself is Chara, but they’re long gone now. Anyway, school, no war, thing’s are ok._

Of course, this is dramatic irony. There would be a war and many more deaths. Frisk just had to wait for it.


End file.
